Kiera Antilles
Kiera Antilles was a Paladin Jedi Knight and sometimes smuggler, a descendent of Obi-Wan Kenobi and the wife of Jagged Antilles. She rediscovered Ilum, the Ancient ship Destiny and Reesh, the Paladin sanctuary in the Rishi Maze. History Early Years (580 ABY to 594 ABY) When Kiera Devarian was born there was no doubt that she was destined for the life of a Jedi. As well as her parents being Jedi masters, the family was descended from Obi-Wan Kenobi, although that lineage had been keep secret for hundreds of years. In due time her parents considered Kiera would learn the family secret. Unfortunately, Kiera would only learn it in a roundabout manner. Kiera's parents were killed while traveling from Coruscant to Ossus when their ship suffered a catastrophic accident. Per her parents wishes the infant Kiera was placed in the care of the Jedi Masters on Ossus. The Masters where kind and caring and sought to make up for the loss of her parents, but they were Jedi with a degree of detachment and that was what Kiera grew up learning. When she was twelve, her father's closest friend, Master Nial Barris, took Kiera as his apprentice. He seemed to possess a special understanding of her, and Kiera grew closer to her master than anyone else in her life. For the first two years, Kiera had what would be considered a "normal" apprenticeship and Nial began to catch glimpses of future greatness in his young apprentice. But when Kiera was fourteen her apprenticeship took a new and rather brutal direction when the GA-Mandalorian war broke out. The War Years (594 ABY to 599 ABY) Though she was only fourteen Kiera was, over the protests of her master, ordered into the war by the Jedi Order's grandmaster, Adhar Grae. The grandmaster's reasoning was that all capable Jedi were desperately need to combat the Mandalorian threat, and there was more than a little truth to that. Nial Barris knew his apprentice was not ready for such grim hardship, but he could do little more than guide, teach and protect Kiera. War was a viscious teacher but it was a quick one, and somewhat to Barris's surprise it brought out unknown strengths in Kiera. One inparticular was that she never made the same mistake twice. Barris thought that with his guidance and her growing skill, Kiera would survive the war. Once again, Adhar Grae intervened to upset the balance of Kiera's life. At sixteen, the grandmaster declared her a knight, and assigned her to the Jedi Starfighter Corp. Nial Barris knew Kiera wasn't ready, but again his protests were to no avail. All he could do was hope that Kiera had learned enough in their four years together to keep her alive. Grae's action however had one unforseen consequence. It focused the astute Barris's attention on the grandmaster. Kiera had learned enough skills to survive, but she was young, and the combination of the absence of her master's guidance and her own inexperience resulted in the needless death of another Jedi in the battle of Mon Calamari. Kiera left the starfighter corp and finished out the war as a reconnaissance and covert operative though she carried the burden of the Jedi death with her. A Secret Revealed (598 ABY) On her eighteenth birthday Kiera was given possession of a holocron left to her by her parents. It revealed the secret of her family line along with much of the Jedi master's wisdom and instruction. Going counter to the six hundred years of secrecy, Kiera revealed her heritage to the Jedi Order and reclaimed the name of Kenobi, though she did not hand the holocron over to the Jedi Order as only a blood descendent of Obi-Wan Kenobi could actually access the holocron. The Jedi Council recognized that the holocron had always been meant as a personal and private Jedi artifact, and honored Kiera's decision to retain it since, by extension, that was honoring the wishes of its creator. Also, as Kiera was a very commited Jedi, they considered that she would impart any knowledge from the holocron that she could share. Only Grandmaster Grae was displeased with the situation. Eventually he would take secret measures to try and secure access to the holocron. A New Life (600 ABY) It was while on a mission to track down an assassin that Kiera found herself stranded in the Unknown Regions unable to fly her damaged ship. She set her distress beacon and set about exploring the ice planet she was on, well aware that she was being led by the Force to do so. Having been drawn to a cave high in the mountains, Kiera realized she had rediscovered Ilum, entered the crystal cave and as generations of Jedi before her, she was given Force-embued crystals . Upon returning from the crystal cave, Kiera learned her distress beacon had been answered by former GA pilot, now smuggler Jagged Antilles. The emotions evoked by their meeting were instant, true and mutual. The bond that developed was deep and lasting. Jag would follow Kiera; Kiera would follow Jag and within a short amount of time Kiera found herself wife and Paladin Jedi.